Drew - 26/10/05 - Engine Watch. It seems Google is rolling out a new search algorithm, coined the "Jagger" update. It looks set to be a big one and should shake up SERPs considerably. Stay tuned for an update once it's settled and we can make some observations.
Jeremy - 24/10/05 - Comment. Things have been really busy here in the sales department - just putting the finishing touches to a major proposal for a high street fashion retailer that would be very exciting for us.
One of the things I love about sales is that I have to get right under the skin of companies and organisations when I am putting together a proposal and they are always so different. Recently I've been doing lots of research about a children's charity and interviewing people in the organisation about what they do, what they want to do better, why they do what they do, etc. Working out all the ways that they can use the web to further their aims and objectives is a bit like doing detective work: getting all the information together, talking to all the key parties and then coming up with suggestions that will make a difference. By the time I did all that, I felt like I'd known them for ages. It sounds a bit cheesy, I know, but I ended up really inspired by them and a genuine advocate for the charity!
On another note, I've been attending quite a few "Breakfast Networking" groups recently, which can be a bit boring if the members are not right, but these ones seem very good and I think they will produce business for us in the future. I wish they'd make them "Brunch Networking" instead, though. Or what about "Elevenses Networking" That would be alright. Mind you, I went to one this week on the top floor (31st floor!) of the Barclays World HQ at Canary Wharf - floor to ceiling windows, watching the sun rise over London - absolutely stunning! The bacon sarnies were pretty good too!
Chris - 14/10/05 - Comment. There have been some interesting articles about the continued rise of online advertising and how recently it has overtaken the advertising spend on outdoor advertising. However, the proportion spent online compared to the audience reached is still low, so we all expect there is more growth to come and are expanding our e-marketing services accordingly.
Google are still announcing new projects and ventures on a week by week basis. In the last couple of weeks it has been a tie up with NASA - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4292458.stmand an alliance with SUN http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4311306.stm
It will be interesting to see at what point Google turn from being the underdog into Big Brother and become as unpopular as Microsoft! It is already being discussed whether the compromises they had to make during their expansion into China is the beginning of a slippery slope!
However, one can't argue about the quality of their products - Google Maps is quickly becoming another everyday business tool and Google Earth has never made geography so interesting! How long "do no evil" can remain the company's moto, however, remains to be seen.
Dan - 14/10/05 - Press - Vicky got a few column inches in the Daily Telegraph today in the Business Hot Shots section (page B6, bottom right). Read the online version here...
Chris - 14/10/05 - Projects - Another interesting week goes by... We won the contract for developing a new content-managed web site for the fastest growing church in the UK. So work will start on the specification shortly.
Dan - 14/10/05 - Awards - It's raining awards at the moment! Two of our websites, one for The Foundry and another for PPC, have been shortlisted as finalists in the IM2005 awards. Read the full news story...
Dan - 13/10/05 - Comment - My trusty laptop died last week (disk failure), which is not interesting in itself, I confess. However, while going through the tedious process of re-installing various apps and so on, I asked my tech support colleague for access to some of the files from our server, so I could carry on installing when I got home. His response? Download them from the web, it'll be quicker.
His suggestion was, of course, nothing to do with our network or servers, but rather a piece of practical advice. It served as a reminder for me of how the web is evolving into the repository for everything. (My brain was having a 'dial-up' moment, where files were downloaded once and closely guarded! I snapped out of it though.) Bandwidth, speed and storage are no longer the limiting factor they once were, and the web is reacting to that.
This reflects our experiences of web projects in recent times. We're seeing the web extend deeper into organistions and more resources moving into the public domain, or at least being readily accessible through public networks.
The lines between websites, intranets, extranets, and a raft of other diverse online applications are slowly melting away, which can only be a good thing given the dynamic nature of the web.
Chris - 03/10/05 - Comment - In the last couple of weeks there has been a lot in the press about eBay's aquisition of Skype and whether this represents value for money and the fit with the rest of the business.
At the moment I am sceptical about the synergy with eBay - however, I have absolutely no doubt that Voice over IP is the future of telephony and I really feel we are on the cusp of voice/video/data all being combined together on the web and through the Net.
There have been lots of false dawns for Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) amongst other types of media integration but it was just too complex, too expensive without enough benefits for the majority of firms. I think we will now really see this to begin to change.
I am personally really looking forward to the time where I can use one handset with Skype (or a similiar product) installed that I can make VOIP calls from home (via my home broadband), VOIP calls in the office (via the office Internet connection) and mobile calls when I am on the move. The new iMate and XDA II handsets might make this vision a reality but it has yet to been seen!